ZOP/CSAR helicopters
Mi-14PL/R No. 1012, the first of the helicopters of the 44th naval aviation base in Darlowo, which returned to the base unit after the completion of the main overhaul.
It seemed that the end of last year would finally bring a decision regarding the future re-equipment of the 44th naval aviation base in Darlowo with a new type of helicopter, which would allow replacing the old Mi-14PL and Mi-14PL/R. Although at the moment this is the only program related to the purchase of new helicopters for the Polish Armed Forces, carried out in the "urgent" mode since 2017, it has not yet been resolved or ... canceled.
Unfortunately, due to the secrecy of the procedure, all information about the tender comes from unofficial sources. As we reported in the previous issue of Wojska i Techniki, the only bidder that submitted its offer to the Armaments Inspectorate by November 30, 2018 is the PZL-Świdnik SA communications plant, which is part of Leonardo. The aforementioned organization has offered the Ministry of National Defense the purchase of four AW101 multi-purpose helicopters with a training and logistics package. If the selection of the proposal is officially confirmed, the contract could be signed at the turn of the first and second quarters of this year. A good opportunity for this may be the 17th International Air Fair, which will be held May 18-2. It is reported that the total value of the contract could be up to PLN XNUMX billion, and the Office of Offset Contracts of the Ministry of National Defense has already pre-approved proposals for compensation of part of the contract value submitted by the bidder.
As already mentioned, the subject of the contract are four anti-submarine rotorcraft, additionally equipped with specialized equipment that allows CSAR search and rescue operations. This means that the AW101 could become a direct successor to (part of) the Mi-14 PL and PŁ/R, which should be permanently phased out around 2023. It should be emphasized that the Operations Center of the Ministry of National Defense has ensured that no further repairs are planned for these helicopters, which would again extend their service life. This is due to the technical service life of helicopters, which was specified by the manufacturer as no more than 42 years.
The second of the organizations eligible to submit the final proposal, Heli-Invest Sp. z oo Sp.k. jointly with Airbus Helicopters issued a statement on December 1, 2018, from which it appears that it has finally withdrawn from the tender - despite the postponement of the deadline for submission of proposals by one month - due to excessive compensation requirements of the customer, which does not allow the submission of competitive proposals. According to reports, a potential competitor to the AW101 was to be the Airbus Helicopters H2016M Caracal, already proposed under the canceled procedure for multi-purpose helicopters in 225.
Mi-14 resuscitation
In order to maintain the potential of the 44th Naval Aviation Base until new vehicles enter service, in mid-2017, the Ministry of Defense decided to carry out additional overhauls of the main existing Mi-14 helicopters. Some of them have already been decommissioned due to the exhaustion of the overhaul life (including four in the PŁ version) or due to the approach of this moment (for example, both rescue Mi-14 PL / R were planned to be withdrawn in 2017-2018) . Previously, the lack of a decision regarding their further operation was the result of a willingness to focus available funds on the planned purchase of Caracala, which ultimately did not take place, as well as on the modernization of the ground infrastructure of the Darlowo base. The last project, having canceled the purchase of rotorcraft, was finally frozen until a supplier of new machines was selected.
